rotating beer tap

The rotating beer tap offers customers a different (craft) beer every time they walk through the pub door. It is common practice for bars and restaurants in the US and UK to do this and craft beer drinkers love it! They are always interested in trying the latest beer on the market or the newest brew from one of their favorite breweries.

You could look at this concept from three perspectives; as the consumer, the publican, and the brewer.

Again, your typical craft beer drinker knows which breweries are making good beer and they will always willing to try a new brew from a reliable brewery. Much of the fun for the craft beer drinker is to stay ahead of the curve by sampling the newest brews on the market. As the craft beer industry grows in Ireland so too will off-licence sales as more people will turn to having one or two nice beers at home with dinner rather than hit the pub or drink nothing at all. Publicans and off licences can use craft beer to mix it up regularly in order keep customers interested.

It may be daunting for the publican to think about switching to a new brew every time a keg goes dry. Not to mention having to open a new account every time a new brewery is formed (which is pretty often these days). Of course, that is where we come in. We offer the publican or restaurateur access to many different breweries with a single consolidated order, delivery and invoice saving them the time and hassle. Irish craft beer pubs are almost expected to rotate through a few different beers, especially seasonals. In fact, if you are self proclaimed Irish craft beer pub and aren’t rotating through beers you are missing out on a huuuge opportunity. However, If your bar has only one or two taps dedicated to craft beer, hidden back in a corner, it may be wiser to stick with one brand until you are ready to offer a wider range.

The craft brewers are potentially the ones most affected by the rotating beer tap. There exists a concern that it could be more challenging for breweries to develop brand awareness if they are constantly being shuffled in and out of establishments. However, it is possible for breweries to get around this by embracing pubs with rotating taps while also targeting accounts that are willing to dedicate more permanent real estate. All is not lost. Brewers can be sure that Vanguard is rotating their beer regularly through these taps. We make it easier for the brewer by managing the installation of taps and line cleaning, as well as point of sale marketing and promotion, emergency maintenance and payment processing.

Sidenote: I have reason to believe that some of the articles I have linked to in this post are 3 or 4 years old because this concept has already been so heavily addressed outside of Ireland. It may very well be that rotating beer taps is old news at this point.

Posted by Julie Levy

Julie is Vanguard’s PR and Marketing Guru. She is a native Californian, Angeleno in fact, so please excuse her strange way of speaking and weird sense of humor.